Centerville Native Was Sec. of Agriculture, 4 Term U.S. Senator

National political names in the history of the state of South Dakota. We've had our fair share.

George McGovern. Three-term U.S. Senator, 1972 democratic presidential nominee, and one of the leading liberal voices during the Vietnam War era.

Karl Mundt. Five-term U.S. House of Representatives member, four-term U.S. Senator, a stalwart Republican conservative voice.

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Tom Daschle. Four terms in the U.S. House, three terms in the U.S. Senate, Senate Majority Leader, Democrat.

And many more including Clinton Presba Anderson.

Wait. Who?

You don't know Clinton Presba Anderson? Well my goodness, he was a two-term U.S. Congressman, the United States Secretary of Agriculture for three years, and a four-term United States Senator. Not a bad resume' for a guy from Centerville, South Dakota!

Centerville is one of South Dakota's many great small communities. 918 strong in the 2020 census, the town was just a wee bit smaller than that when Anderson was born there in 1895. After attending two colleges (but no degree) he returned to South Dakota and while working for a newspaper in Mitchell, Anderson had what would be a life-changing event.

He was diagnosed with tuberculosis.

It was in 1917 that Clinton Anderson from Centerville, South Dakota was given just six months to live. Advised to go to a sanitarium in New Mexico, Anderson left the state, beat the dreaded disease, and proved doctors wrong. And so, it was from New Mexico that Clinton Presba Anderson made his political name.

Following a successful career in business, Anderson was voted into the House of Representatives in 1941. President Harry Truman appointed Anderson as his Secretary of Agriculture in 1945, and he was elected to the United States Senate in 1948, where he served until 1973.

Of course, since through all those years, he represented the state of New Mexico, many people may have forgotten his roots in....

Centerville, South Dakota.

Perhaps you could say he took those deeply rooted South Dakota values and replanted them in New Mexico and the entire world benefited.

Clinton Presba Anderson passed away in 1975 at the age of 80.

When you're talking about great political names from the great state of South Dakota, don't forget Clinton Presba Anderson of New Mexico.

Source: Wikipedia

What Did South Dakota's License Plate Look Like the Year You Were Born?

The first number on a South Dakota license plate is the county that the car is registered. For example, Pennington county where Rapid City is has a '2' starting its plates. In Sioux Falls you have either a '1' or a '44' depending on your relationship to 57th street.

When established in 1956 (and revised in 1987) the first nine counties were ordered by population. Starting with 10 they are in alphabetical order through Ziebach, with Oglala Lakota County (65) and Todd (67) rounding out the list.

Today the top 10 plate numbers and populations don't correlate anymore. 1 and 2 are still 1 and 2, but Lincoln (44) is now 3rd in population. Beadle is 4 but it's now 11th in population. See the list by population here.

On January 1, 2023, South Dakota started issuing a new license plate design for license plates.

So, let's take a look back at what South Dakota license plates looked like over the last 100 years.

Source: Centerville, South Dakota Native Was Sec. of Agriculture, 4 Term U.S. Senator